


Women of remorse

by The_Sleepy_Silurian



Category: LoliRock (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Current Events, For the most part, Off screen, Pre-Canon, mixed with
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-01-29 04:54:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21404512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Sleepy_Silurian/pseuds/The_Sleepy_Silurian
Summary: “We cannot ignore our past together, only decide how it will shape our futures apart”Politics, Talia decided, were the most boring thing she had ever had to watch. No fun. No Games. Just lots of people standing in a room yelling at each other. And someone’s name kept coming up- Grahm? Grey? Gramorr? It probably wasn’t that important.Transferring this work from Tumblr to try and abate the hiatus blues.
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

Politics, Talia decided, were the most boring thing she had ever had to watch. No fun. No Games. Just lots of people standing in a room yelling at each other. And someone’s name kept coming up- Grahm? Grey? Gramorr? It probably wasn’t that important.

As she picked dejectedly at the hem of her ornate Xerian robes she wondered what the rest of the palace was like. The room she and the rest of the visiting delegations from the other queendoms had been stuck in was very stately. Huge arched ceilings vaulted over a large central table where her mother and father were sitting with the other kings and queens. The walls mainly consisted of huge windows carved with symbols so intricate it hurt her eyes to look at them for to long. Talia was with her sister and their representatives in a booth along the center section. Two stories of several such boxes lined the walls of the room, each with a group of strangers bedecked in their native finery huddling and muttering to each other furtively inside.

Sophisticated and imposing as it was the princess couldn’t help longing for a change of scenery. Grandiose and impressive only got one so far, what she really wanted was an adventure. Or, she thought wistfully, at least someone her own age to spend the rest of the day with. Sure the palace was teeming with people, but they all seemed cold and distant; as if she was just another face to bow to and shake hands with. Not deserving of anything but the most professional courtesy.

As the day wore on minor dignitaries came and went from their little box, all wearing decidedly forced smiles as if they too found the entire affair incredibly tedious. By early evening the room pulsed with heat. The candles on the numerous light fixtures were running down and the great glass windows did nothing to alleviate the stuffiness. Mumbling some excuse about finding the restroom to the nobles surrounding her, Talia jumped the railing of their section and slipped deftly out of the crowded room.

The princess found herself in a well lit corridor festooned with crystals and other pieces of art honoring the Ephedian royals. A grand staircase to her left presumably lead back into the hall to the upper level of boxes. A small door next to the base of the stairs had been left slightly ajar and piqued her curiosity. Slowly she stepped into the dim stairwell. Not waiting for her eyes to adjust the bluenette plowed ahead, taking the steps two at a time. A sliver of light was visible at the top of the stairs, and when Talia arrived she found a small window-like crack that looked out onto the room she had just left. If she shifted close and squinted just right she could see Izira and her parents, still talking non-stop. Had they even noticed she’d disappeared?

Turning from the sight somewhat dejectedly the princess observed the rest of her new discovery. She appeared to have stumbled upon a crawl space that stretched continuously under the floors of the second tier of diplomatic booths. Shuffling feet and distorted voices could be heard as the wood overhead creaked incessantly. Similar shafts of light ran the entire length of the hall, appearing every few feet in the cramped darkness. As her eyes adjusted to the gloom a figure could just be seen huddled in the shadows. It was another little girl, with short burgundy hair and piercing dark blue eyes that looked absolutely petrified as they locked with Talia’s. But the exchange only lasted a moment, for as soon as Talia blinked the girl was running as fast as one could in their confined quarters towards the stairs and the main hallways of the palace. As she disappeared around the door frame it was all Talia could do to let out a strangled “wait!” before giving hot pursuit.

Whoever she was, she was fast, Talia’d give her that, but the bluenette had years of practice running to get herself out of trouble back home. Like that one time she’d almost been caught stealing an entire tray of pastries from the kitchens. She never would’ve guessed for a man of his size that the chef had such stamina….

So caught up in her thoughts was she that Talia almost missed her target hurrying into a nearly invisible servant’s passage among the seemingly endless and identical hallways. Not one to be outmaneuvered the princess barrelled on, following any flicker of wine colored hair. Furniture was hastily shoved, people dodged, and all manner of general chaos ensued before Talia found her chosen one doubled over panting beneath a bejeweled tree in an artfully decorated inner courtyard. With a joyful shout the Xerian Princess tackled her to the ground, then stood triumphantly over the shocked stranger. 

After a moment of stunned silence the girl struggled to her feet as quickly as possible and without a word dropped into a deep frozen curtsy, eyes not moving from a clump of grass at her feet. Now that she wasn’t just a blur a few steps ahead of her Talia could see that she had been chasing a girl hardly her height bedecked in the simple dress of one of the palace’s innumerable servants. Black fabric with white and cream accents covered the person before her, and a clasp at her throat bearing the royal seal of star and heart could just be seen under her bowed head. Her knees were scraped raw and hands balled into fists were clenching the fabric of her dress as she remained immobile.

“What do you want your highness?” The sentence was surely meant to be pointed and barbed, but was said in such a shaky tone that the bluenette had to smile. Without a second thought Talia flopped down on her stomach in the grass, hands propping up her chin so that in her position the servant girl was forced to look the princess in the eye.

“I want us to be friends!” Talia replied sunnily as the fear and apprehension on the girl’s face morphed into confusion and suspicion. However, she quickly got a hold of herself and replied in a voice dripping with sarcasm:

“Of course you do princess, people practically line up outside the palace to make ‘friends’ with me of all people. Now may I sit down and introduce myself or shall we continue talking like a robin pecking for worms?” The bluenette raised herself into a sitting position with her legs splayed out haphazardly in front of her. The girl with the burgundy hair took this as a yes and introduced herself as Praxina while bobbing another curtsy. Promptly folding her limbs neatly under herself and kneeling across from the Xerian princess in the deepening shadows of the massive tree.

“What’s a robin?” Talia asked as soon as the other appeared to be comfortable. A blush flew to Praxina’s cheeks and guilt riddled her features as she averted her eyes, bit her lip, and her hands once again strangled the fabric of her uniform. How odd, Talia thought as she reached out and took hold of the girl’s hands, prompting a look of shock from the person in question.

“It’s OK, you can tell me. It’s not like I have anyone else to tell. Besides, this is the most fun I’ve had all day! And you wouldn’t want to be responsible for ruining it would you?” The subtle threat and pleading golden eyes forced the blue eyed girl to stand and recite a description of an animal Talia had never heard of. Her confusion must’ve been obvious for after the girl had finished she looked around furtively before stooping to whisper in the princess’ ear:

“They’re not from Ephedia your highness. They can only be found on a world far far away.” She then lowered her voice even more so that she had to practically press her lips to the shell of the royal’s ear; and lifted a protective hand up to half cover her mouth from the view of any possible onlookers.

“We call it Earth.”

“Earth?” The Xerian repeated loudly, feeling the strange syllables roll around her mouth only to be shushed hastily by her companion who again looked around frantically before turning to Talia.

“You mustn’t say it so loud! I’m not supposed to know about it, they’ll have my head if-”

“Tell me more about this place” the princess demanded. Waving away the other’s concerns and patting the ground beside her in an invitation. Praxina uneasily settled next to her and began in quiet hesitant tones to tell Talia about a wonderful little planet covered in sparkling water and land of emerald green. The bluenette sat in rapt attention, and so entranced was she that she hardly noticed when Praxina stopped talking.

“I wish I could see things from earth” she mumbled dreamily after she finally stopped staring wordlessly into space.

“As you wish princess” came the simple reply. Suddenly the ground a few feet away from them glowed a brilliant red, lighting up the courtyard more than the meager lanterns lining the walls ever could. As the night air exploded with color Talia could just make out a silhouette rising from the newly formed magic circle. Before she could fully comprehend what was happening a russet and brown creature with huge dark eyes bounded up to the two.

“Awww!” Talia gushed lovingly, kneeling in the courtyard’s dirt to pet the animal, who in turn barked loudly and wagged its tail furiously. “What is this thing?” Talia cooed while the creature jumped up for more cuddles.

“It’s called a dog” Praxina laughed and smiled appreciatively. “I found pictures of them in a book in her majesty the queen’s study. She has tons of stuff about Earth in there.” Realizing her mistake the girl’s eyes grew wide once more and a hand flew to her mouth in a futile attempt to stem the words that had already left her lips. “Oh! But you mustn’t tell anyone I was in there! The royal wing is off limits to everyone except for the royal family’s personal attendants….”

Talia turned from where she and the dog had been playing and gave the other girl a mischievous smile.

“OK, it’ll be our secret” she said sweetly, extending a hand. But as the latter cracked a grateful smile and reached out to shake, the bluenette suddenly pulled her hand back with a smirk.

“Only if you teach me how to summon something like this” the princess gestured calmly to the animal now resting contentedly in her lap. Praxina’s hesitation barely lasted a minute before she quipped back:

“Fine, but only if YOU teach me some of your tricky Xerian magic. Deal?”

Begrudgingly they shook hands. Talia wasn’t used to such nerve. Normally it was all ‘yes princess Talia’, ‘of course princess Talia’, ‘whatever can we do for you princess Talia?’ People practically fell over themselves to keep her happy. But now this girl was being as stubborn as she was.

She liked it.


	2. Chapter 2

Night had fallen, and the light of the seven moons combined with twinkling gems and lanterns cast a warm glow over the inner courtyard. Two figures were visible in the ambient splendor, seemingly in the midst of some form of training.

“Try again princess,” Praxina cooed from her perch in the bejeweled tree. “It’s not like it could be any worse than the rest of your creatures”. All of the hesitancy of earlier was gone and a wicked grin was just visible from behind a polite hand.

Talia could only grit her teeth and glare furiously at the girl lounging on an outstretched limb above her head. Dozens of failed attempts ran about her feet-or at least tried to run-many of them were, rudimentary to say the least. Even the dog shied away from her grotesque, flawed creations. Sweat beaded her forehead, and her robes-impeccable only hours earlier-were caked with dust and covered with grass stains. Her parents would flip out if they saw her like this. Speaking of flipping out, her new “friend” was starting to really annoy her.

“You are the worst student I’ve ever had...” Praxina mumbled gleefully.

“I’ve been doing it exactly the way you did!”

“And you’ve been doing it exactly wrong!”

This time the girl had gone to far. Who was she to speak to her like this!?! How come only she could summon animal playmates!?! And why was she still smiling like that?!?!

“It’s not fair!” the bluenette yelled and stomped her foot. As she did so a huge azure circle sprang from underfoot. The xerian felt a surge of magic coursing through her. Tingling from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She closed her eyes until it passed, only to open them again to the sound of an earsplitting roar. Standing before her and reaching up past Praxina’s branch was a hulking creature with blue fur and eyes.

Suddenly face to face with a set of gaping jaws, Praxina squeaked and jumped down from the tree. Landing nimbly at Talia’s feet, she shattered what were left of the princess’ previous efforts with a flick of her wrists. Turning towards a still seething Talia she said sweetly

“Congratulations your highness, I knew you could do it.” Crouching down to pet the returning dog, Praxina calmly endured the ferocious looks of both Talia and her bear as they turned towards her. “What’s wrong your highness, don’t you like it? I’m sure I could teach you to summon another Earth creature, but I’m afraid you don’t have all night to spend in a courtyard with the likes of me.” she mused, not bothering to look up.

“How did I do that? What did you do?” Talia demanded sharply. “Izira’s always yelling at me for not training enough, I shouldn’t have been able to pull this off...”. Her voice trailed off gloomily as she gestured vaguely to the huge form of the creature that had wandered over to a bush and was now trying to eat the decorative jewels. The girl with burgundy hair rose sharply, standing directly in front of the xerian, making sure to punctuate each word perfectly.

“I. Didn’t. Do. Anything. This is simply the power of letting emotions into your magic. Do they not have feelings in Xeris?” she asked coyly. The bluenette’s face burned, she was always being told to be more serious. 

“Izira says disciplined magic is durable magic”

“Speaking of your sister, I think it’s your turn to teach me princess” Praxina bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet. With a sigh Talia turned to her eagerly awaiting “student”. How different could Xerian magic possibly be?

“Which spell did you have in mi-”

“Crystimito” came the to-quick reply.

“A disguise spell? What makes you think I know that high level stuff?”

“Because highness”, the girl recited in a singsong voice as she paced in circles around Talia “the princess of Xeris is well known throughout the lands for her pranks and undignified fun. It wouldn’t be to much to assume she knows a thing or two about disguises now would it?” She came to a stop behind Talia, and punctuated her last words by draping herself smugly over the bluenette’s shoulder.

Talia shoved her off begrudgingly, her guilt riddled across her face. This was all the answer the servant girl needed and she stood happily awaiting her next orders.

“Fine, but you're going to get in trouble y’know...”

“You only get in trouble if you get caught. You of all people should know that Princess.”

Talia smiled, they really were similar at heart. Drawing herself up to her full height she glanced disdainfully at Praxina, whose face dropped. With a few seconds pause she soon gave her best impression of her own tutor in Xeris: a haughty woman with no time for childish things.

The bluenette’s voice became high and reedy as she mimicked: “Your magic is undisciplined, sloppy, and lacks technique but with the proper training I think you could have some potential.” With a wave of her hand and a short command Talia transformed herself into the girl standing before her.

“Now lets see you try that ”, the double leered as the burgundy haired girl struggled in front of her. This continued as the next few minutes stretched out agonizingly slowly.

“Whats wrong little girl? Lost your nerve?“

Being insulted by her own reflection was to much and soon Praxina’s anger got the better of her. With one last shout she overcame her panic and recited the spell. To her horror however, she couldn't make a full body transformation. Instead of looking like the Princess of Xeris she had merely succeeded in turning her hair blue and changing her uniform into Talia’s ceremonial robes.

Talia really did try and keep up the act as long as she could, but the charade couldn’t last. Soon the fake Praxina’s hastily stifled giggles became to powerful, and she began to shriek with laughter at the sight before her. As she did the transformation spell wavered, until it shattered completely and regular Talia was left laughing in the dirt.

“Stop laughing!” Praxina huffed indignantly as she pulled at her new locks and strange clothes.

“Why not? You laughed at me earlier. Now we’re even.” Talia wheezed out as she gradually calmed down.

Not one to be humiliated twice, Praxina bit her lip and tried the spell again. This time it worked, and soon Talia was looking up at her own copy.

“There! Now we’re really even. A spell for a spell.” She held out a hand to help the true bluenette up and the two exchanged a genuine smile.

They practiced their new spells until the lantern’s candles burned low. The bear rumbled around and played with Praxina’s dog as Talia threw stick after stick for them to fetch. Praxina changed her form constantly to look like the other beings she knew: the dog, then the bear, Princess Talia, a boy with burgundy hair, and a tall man with green hair. Neither of which Talia recognized.

A familiar voice suddenly rang out into the night

“Talia! There you are, mother and father have been looking for you ever since the summit ended! Where have you been all this time?”

Izira ran from the shadows and into the courtyard, enveloping talia in a bone crushing hug.

“Izira, you- you’re smooshing me!”

Setting her down, the crown princess gave her little sister one of her no-nonsense looks

“Serves you right, what were you thinking?! Sneaking out of an important meeting like this?!”

“But Iziraaa I was just sooo bored. And besides, you’re the one people are counting on, nobody cares about me...”

“Talia you know that’s not true, it’s part of your responsibilities as princess to represent Xeris and that means being on your best-”

Izira stopped short when she realized they had an audience. The surprise on the white haired woman’s face when she saw the dog, bear, and a terrified Praxina with her nose practically on the ground she was curtsying so low was enough to make Talia stifle another laugh.

“Y-y-your highness” Praxina stammered, not daring to look up. Talia smiled and ran over to her new friend.

“It’s just my sister, c’mon stand up” the bluenette said comfortingly while pulling at her arm. Praxina’s eye flicked madly from the crown princess to the ground, rooted in place despite Talia’s best efforts until she saw Izira give her a nod.

Smiling warmly at the two girls now clinging to each other Izira asked kindly: “and what is your name?”

“Praxina your highness, how may I be of service?”

“Ugh, stop saying stuff like that, Izira has enough people to wait on her already” Talia groaned. Turning to her older sister she puffed up her chest and announced: “And she’s my friend, you cant take her from me” the bluenette harrumphed and crossed her arms.

The bear, seemingly sensing its creator’s mood, mirrored her stance. Seeing the strange blue creature seemed to bring Izira’s focus back to the task at hand.

“What on Ephedia have you been doing? Have you two been out here the whole night?”

“We’ve been training! Y’know the thing you’re always on my case about?” Praxina winced at the lack of respect Talia showed to her sister with every new sentence.

“It’s true your highness. Princess Talia has shown great potential with summoning magic” she gestured at the creatures that had appeared at their side.

“Yes, certainly a....unique pair of creations. Where did you find-”

“Oh, and I taught Praxina something too! Show her, show her!” the princess needled the other girl, her excitement at showing off palpable in the night air.

With a reluctant glance at Izira, Praxina transformed into her new friend, presenting the crown princess with two little sisters; one bursting with excitement and the other riddled with guilt. Overlapping voices were quick to break the shocked silence.

“You showed her crystimito! What were you thinking?”

“I thought you’d be proud of me, this is a high level spell!”

“This is a dangerous spell Talia, spies could become anyone!”

“That’s not fair she would never-”

“It’s my fault highness, I pressured the princess into teaching me-”

“No! I wanted to learn how to make a playmate like that and-”

“Enough!” Izira let out an exasperated sigh and pinched her temples. “How about we make a deal. I agree to not turn the both of you in, and in return you each do something for me, got it?

“Fine.” Talia sulked.

Lowering the disguise, Praxina replied: “As you wish, highness”

“Ok” Kneeling so she was eye to eye with the two girls, Izira spoke: “Talia, from now on you have to come to every meeting, summit, and negotiation that Xeris is involved with.”

The younger princess began to protest but was quickly shot down.

“You need to learn that your actions have consequences Talia, don't throw a tanty. It will also help enforce your responsibilities as princess to see the inner workings of the Xerian government”.

“And as for you” she rounded on Praxina “I need you to swear to me that you will never use that spell outside these four walls again. Some very bad people would love to get their hands on it, and I’m sure hurting you to get it wouldn’t be a problem for them. This is for your own safety, do you understand?”

“Yes, your highness” the blue eyed girl gave a little shiver at the thought of strangers coming to the royal castle just to hurt her. Would the king’s guard protect her? She took Talia’s hand and squeezed it tight, welcoming the grounded feeling it gave her.

With a sigh Izira stood and brushed off her skirts. “Good, then this whole thing will be our little secret ok?”

As the younger girls agreed, the crown princess realized she had been gone for quite some time. Reaching for her sister’s hand she started the long walk back to their worried parents.

“Come along Talia, Mother and Father will be glad that you’re safe and sound. Say goodbye now, and maybe if you’re good we can come visit her”

As she was dragged away Talia beamed happily and waved goodbye with her free hand.

“Promise to play with me again at the next summit ok? I think we’re going to become best friends!”

“Of course princess, you can always count on me” Praxina waved back, the dog at her feet barking and wagging its tail in agreement as the two sisters disappeared through the doorway.

As the burgundy haired girl was left smiling alone in the courtyard the entire scene faded to black.


End file.
